After the first 6 hours all patients in septic shock (62% of the patients according to our preliminary data) will be monitored by continuous cardiac output monitoring. Additionally, all patients will be followed daily by transthoracic echocardiography for up 19 to 5 days (Fig 3). Since the patients themselves will not be able to sign an informed consent, the inclusion to the study will be approved by the attending physician in charge of the ICU who will also be able to decide on stopping the study protocol at any time according to his clinical judgment as to the best interest of the patient.